Jean-Philippe Baru

Jean-Philippe Baru was the Bailiff of Aalst during the 1740s. Baru was sent by the French occupation government to replace the previous bailiff, who had been killed four years earlier, and Baru was informed of the town's draconian punishments by Warden Goorissen. Baru did not agree with the City Council's cruel measures, and he even rescued a peasant woman from being raped at a party hosted at the Mayor's estate. However, he was still committed to suppressing brigandage in Flanders, including the capture of Jan de Lichte.